Finished Line Edit :)

Finished Line Edit :)

What isn’t to like? Next Hacked Off heads to New Zealand and the brave soul who is going to Edit for me. Who knew I would get here? Let alone there!

I am also being coached by Nina Amir at the moment which is interesting and thought provoking. Nina has already called me out over the excuses I have been using to stop me taking the last steps I need to take every day to getting out on the horses again – and I am out again on Rufus and Bud will have shoes on next week.

Next up for me is new writing – well finishing the last chunk of Hacked Apart and then Hacked to Bits. Also, I need to start the typing again 1500/day to get through the last parts of the Quest series I write as Alex Allington so that it is ready to start launching Autumn 2018.

Goodness if I keep doing this I might actually get there 🙂

 

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Mile Stones…

2017-04-07 07.55.03Hacked Off has gone to NZ…

That’s a big milestone – not all of it has gone, but first three chapters and chapter ten. Funny to think that it is that book that is going first. It’s what I have been working on since Dec 16 re the revision course with Holly Lisle and teaching myself to apply a consistent punctuation style with since New Year.

I am about halfway with the third draft for Grammer, Punctuation and Style. I intend to finish that pass then finish writing Hacked Apart and Hacked To Bits to first draft level over the summer and then get going on Quest which has been on ice since the house rebuilt two and a half busy years ago 🙂

This last week I started Coaching with Nina Amir to help me step away from the writing and reintegrate my life with the farm and with the horses that the building works generally interrupted. I have lived in the Agricultural year all my life – a season to plant etc and with an intrinsic view of life is a wheel – or a plough – depending on what I am doing! Either way, many things have made up that life and each has had its time on the calendar or place in the day.

I am thankful I had my writing dreams to lose myself in this last two years as my home emptied and was pulled down and re-emerged as not identifiably my home, my garden has yet to return to productivity and is just neat and tidy – definitely not my garden! Give me productivity any day! My farm was de-stocked – so  I felt ‘not a farmer’ anymore and suddenly when I stopped to think about it I wondered Who Am I? Where Am I? I have hardly ridden the horses and Brin was lost to old age, Tash reduced in capacity by the same… All there has been as a constant from old to new is writing – even my friends and contacts have moved from face to face to online…

Now it is spring time and I finally made enough progress to be able to send an MS off – serendipity played a roll – when Eileen offered to read through for me I said yes even though I hadn’t planned to even look for an Editor for HO till summer. What is there to lose? Whatever she thinks of it I know it was a book I wrote before I even had the internet or a laptop or iPhone so the fact I still have it in play is down to hard work with long hours and that is very much what farming taught me in the first place.  Writing has taught me to sustain concentration over many hours and given me a focus when my identity seemed to disappear in front of me – I even feel a bit like a ghost at times around here – I will too until the house has furniture and the garden grows safely rabbit proofed vegetables again…

Nina has taught me already to question my excuses – this week I have taken action  and ridden Rufus off the farm – and handled Buddy and been out on the pier with Tash – I have attended live group calls which are a challenge – I am used to talking with strangers and friends in text boxes – not hearing the emotion in their voices or letting them hear mine.

The wonderful weather this week has helped,  I did edit a whole chapter and leave my files ready to go next week again. The challenge there will be to integrate the writing and the riding  – having pushed self this week  I don’t want to stop when I get back to work – Rufus may not mind me when I am tired and anxious but Buddy and Flax do – and Rufus deserves better. Next week I will have to pay attention to my sleep and rest and tighten my strategies for providing watershed between my work and the rest of my life. 🙂  Look between ears and allow it to move forward – or ‘get out of my own way’ – I reached the Mile Stone by sheer will at times now I need to let my heart take over again 🙂

 

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